Written by Louise Sleightholm – Speaker & Content Creator on Workwear, Confidence & Career Growth
The shift from CV to platform
For years, LinkedIn functioned as a digital CV – a place for career updates, polished job histories, and the occasional company announcement. It was static, predictable, and largely text-driven. But somewhere along the way, that changed.
Today, LinkedIn feels less like a database of professionals and more like a stage.
Scroll for a few minutes, and the shift becomes obvious. Founders speak directly to the camera, sharing lessons from building their companies. Employees document their working days in real time. Panels, podcasts and keynote clips are repurposed into bite-sized content.
Video, in particular, has played a significant role in this change. It allows for a level of immediacy and clarity that written posts often can’t replicate. You get a much clearer sense of how someone communicates, how they think things through, and how confident they are in what they’re saying.
How credibility is built now
Alongside this shift in format, there has also been a shift in how credibility is built and how opportunities are created.
Traditionally, credibility was largely inferred from experience. Where you had worked, what your role was, and how your career had progressed. Those signals still carry weight, but they are no longer the only, or even the most influential, factors.
Increasingly, credibility is being established through visibility. People are forming opinions based on what you share, how you articulate your ideas, and how consistently you show up. Over time, this builds a clearer picture of your expertise than a static profile ever could.
Why this leads to work
It also changes how work is won. In many cases, opportunities are no longer driven solely by applications, referrals or formal processes. They begin much earlier, often before any direct interaction. A potential client, employer or collaborator may have already encountered your content several times. They may have seen how you approach problems, how you communicate, and what you prioritise.
I’ve seen this play out myself. It’s led to speaking opportunities, meetings with people I’d have struggled to get in front of otherwise, and a level of trust and familiarity that’s already there before you even speak.
When it comes to jobs, there’s data to back it up, too – one study found that active LinkedIn users are 71% more likely to be invited to an interview.
The rise of the professional creator
This is where the idea of the “professional creator” becomes relevant.
Rather than separating “doing the work” from “talking about it”, these individuals do both. They are actively building careers or businesses, while also making their thinking visible to a wider audience.
You could argue they’re getting closer to traditional creators now – not just in terms of influence, but in the commercial opportunities that come with it. The key difference is that it’s all built alongside their actual role, not separate from it.
Sharing insight, explaining decisions, and contributing to conversations within your field all serve a practical purpose: they reduce the distance between you and the people who might want to work with you.
A compounding advantage
Over time, this creates a compounding effect. Instead of needing to establish credibility from scratch in every new interaction, your content does some of that work for you. It provides context, builds familiarity, and gives people a reason to trust your perspective before a formal conversation has even begun.
As a result, LinkedIn is no longer just a platform for recording experience or announcing progression.
It has become a tool for demonstrating expertise in a much more immediate and visible way – and, increasingly, a way of attracting work off the back of it.
What this means in practice
For individuals and businesses alike, the implication is straightforward.
It is no longer enough to rely solely on what you have done. There is growing value in showing how you think, how you communicate, and what you notice within your industry.
Not in a performative or overly polished way, but in a way that is clear, consistent and recognisable over time.
And when it comes to choosing who to work with, people rarely start from scratch – they go with someone they already feel they know.
Which means if you’re not visible, it’s hard to be front of mind when it matters.
